The Hawaiian gazette., 1887-01-11
Count vitzthum,s Memoirs.


known publishing firm Of Baron
Gotta, at Stuttgart, is just about to
publish a collection of the confiden-
tial letters which he. addressed from
London to the Saxon Government,
apart from his official dispatches.
This book contains much hitherto
unwritten history which supplements
the book of Martin, Stockmar, Gre
vile, Malmesbury, &c, in many
respects. Count Vitzthum's stay in
London embraced very important
period of European history-the
Crimean war, the Indian Mutiny, the
italian campaign Of 1859, the Polish
rebelhons, the Danish war, &c. The
publisher having kindly sent the
Berlin correspondent of the DAILY
Ners an advance copy of the first
volume. which includes the Counts
London experiences from 1853 down
TO 1859. the correspondent has trans
lated some of the more interesting
passages.
THE DECLARATION OF WAR WITH RUSSIA.
War was declared against Russia
on March q, 1854. The previous
evening"" says Count Vitzthum, " the
Queen gave a family ball in honor of
the Duke of Cambridge's birthday,
to which I was invited. The Queen
danced much, and she went through
a Scotch reel with the Duke of
Hamilton and Lord Elgin, who both
wore the Scotch national costume
As l had already given up waltzing,
the Queen danced the quadrille with
me She spoke of the events of the
day with the most amiable candor,
telling me confdentially that, to her
great regret. she would be forced to
declare war against Russia next
morning
LOUIS NAPOLEON.
Count Yitzthum was present at
Boulogne during the memorable in
terview between Prince Albert and
the French Emperor. He met the
latter on the day Of his arrival.
The Emperor wore his gala uniform,
with high riding boots and a generals
hat, and l cannot describe the first
impression otherwise than that this
small, insignificant man, with the
large moustaches, reminded me of
one of those riding masters who
superintend the performance in the
circus, whip in hand. This unfavor-
able impression disappeared, how
ever, on becoming personally &C
quainted with the Emperor and his
agreeable manners"
LORD CARDIGAN.
The hero of Balaclava was, in the
authors estimation, the perfect type
of the aristocratic British officer,
"who knows no danger either inlthe
hunting or on the battle field, and
who regards war, too, as a sort of
sport. On my asking him whether
he had to suffer much personally
from the exposures of the winter
campaign, while acting as commander
of the British advance posts, he re-
piled: oh, no; l had my yacht on
hand. which was very comfortable.
1t was only tiresome to ride some
miles every morning and evening
over the bad roads. But had my
hunters with me, and with them no
obstacle could stop me-"
THE BATTLE OF INKER1IAN.
The Count regards the battle of
Inkerman as one of the most glori-
Gus military feats of the British
army. The Duke of Cambridge,
who commanded the Guards on that
day. told me with great modesty that,
at the moment when he pushed for
ward the last available troops in
skirmishing order, he did not believe
1t possible that this thin red line
could hold its own against the ad-
vancing Russian masses. But yet
they succeeded, thanks to the cool
headed tenacity of the Guards and
to some well-placed batteries of
Armstrong (sic) guns. In remem-
brance of this day, competent eye
witness. Marshal Canrobert. told me
thirty years later, 'L'infanterie An
glaise est la premiere du monde"
PRINCE ALBERT.
During a long private interview
which the Count had in July, 1854,
with the Prince Consort, the latter
said: The sympathies of the nations
are with us England and France;
those of the Courts are for Russia.
At Berlin. Dresden, as at Munich,
Stuttgart, and Darmstadt, the Courts
wish US defeats, and would hail every
Russian victor with Joy. l find
this perfectly natural, and I cannot
understand that this causes astonish-
ment here. My father, were he still
alive, would probably hold the same
opinion. And yet / can regret this
false illusion with all my heart. This
is not question as between Chris
tians and Mohammedans, nor one of
the maintenance of this miserable
Turkish rule, but the object is to
establish a precedent for a European
Joint action. All the Powers have
declared that Russia has forcibly